The present invention relates to an adaptable seat.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an adaptable seat for motor vehicles and similar, to which the following description refers purely by way of example.
As is known, in recent years, a demand has arisen to equip high-performance motor vehicles with seats capable of adapting certain characteristics, such as stiffness or body support, to the attitude of the vehicle, and which, in particular, can be made stiffer and more supportive in a racing attitude, but without impairing the comfort of the seat under normal driving conditions.
By way of a solution to the problem, adaptable seats have been developed featuring a series of bladders, which are inflated or deflated on command by an electronic central control unit to adapt the stiffness and shape of the seat rapidly to driver requirements and/or the attitude of the vehicle.
Adaptable seats of the above type, however, are seriously handicapped by a relatively slow response time, and by being extremely complicated and expensive to produce. In addition to an electronic central control unit, such seats, in fact, also require a compressor for supplying pressurized air, and a solenoid valve assembly for controlling air flow to and from the individual bladders.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an adaptable seat designed to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks.
According to the present invention, there is provided an adaptable seat comprising a supporting frame, and at least one supporting cushion fixed to the supporting frame to support the occupant; said at least one supporting cushion comprising an outer shell and a filler; and the adaptable seat being characterized in that the outer shell of said supporting cushion comprises electrically controlled deforming means for selectively deforming the outer shell to adjust the shape of the supporting cushion.
The present invention also relates to a vehicle comprising at least one adaptable seat as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9.